Breaking free from the shackles of trauma
VOTE’s Ronald Marshall explains the relationship between mental health and incarceration, and why he’s fighting for better care for incarcerated people.
By Aretha McKinney
In November, I met with Voice of the Experienced Policy Analyst Ronald Marshall and Communications Director Anisha Shetty to talk about the relationship between incarceration and mental health and the organization’s efforts to improve mental health care for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in Louisiana.
Voice of the Experienced is a New Orleans-based grassroots organization with offices off Washington Avenue across from Xavier University of Louisiana. VOTE focuses on improving the overall quality of life for formerly incarcerated individuals.
Marshall, who was formerly incarcerated himself, explained how a large share of people who are incarcerated experience childhood trauma that affects their overall wellbeing. These experiences are known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (or ACEs) to health care providers and they have a huge impact on how likely people are to be affected by the prison-industrial complex.
Click here to listen to our full conversation.
Carolina Murriel provided production support on this audio story.
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